Articles: low-back-pain.
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J Orthop Sports Phys Ther · Jul 2007
Changes in pain and disability secondary to shoe lift intervention in subjects with limb length inequality and chronic low back pain: a preliminary report.
Preassessment and postassessment of treatment intervention. ⋯ Shoe lifts may reduce LBP and improve function for patients who have chronic LBP and an LLI. Randomized controlled trials are needed to assess the efficacy of this intervention.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Effect of cigarette smoking on serum hydrocodone levels in chronic pain patients.
Nicotine is reported to have analgesic properties. Patients with chronic pain who smoke could therefore, be expected to require less analgesia than non-smokers because of the possible synergism of the two substances. One hundred healthy patients were studied who had non-radicular low back pain for greater than three months. ⋯ Smokers had higher end of study pain scores and required more hydrocodone than non-smokers but had significantly lower serum levels of hydrocodone than non-smokers. The results of this study suggest that cigarette smoking adversely affects serum hydrocodone levels. Prescribing physicians should be aware that in some cigarette smokers, serum hydrocodone levels might not be detectible.
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G Ital Med Lav Ergon · Jul 2007
[LBP and disability in nursing personnel performing manual handing of patients in a large Italian hospital].
Low back pain (LBP) has been recognized as a major cause of sickness and disability among health care workers (HCW) who perform handling of patients. A survey was carrying out to investigate risk factors for LBP and related absenteeism and disability in a group of HCW. 333 HCW were examined in 2003 and 2005 and data were collected on personal, occupational and clinical history and on risk factors for LBP and related absenteeism. Psychosocial factors and LBP related disability were evaluated by means of Karasek's Job Content questionnaire and Oswestry Low Back disability Index. ⋯ Subjects with chronic LBP referred a significantly higher level of disability as compared to acute LBP subjects. Moreover, a significantly relationship was found (p = 0.04) between high level of disability (group III e IV of ODI index) and high perceived job demand. The introduction of questionnaires to collect disability and psychosocial factors is highly recommended in periodic health surveillance program of HCW performing manual handling of patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of three types of physiotherapy used to reduce chronic low back pain disability: a pragmatic randomized trial with economic evaluation.
Pragmatic, randomized, assessor blinded, clinical trial with economic analysis. ⋯ For chronic low back pain, all three physiotherapy regimens improved disability and other relevant health outcomes, regardless of their content. Physiotherapist-led pain management classes offer a cost-effective alternative to usual outpatient physiotherapy and are associated with less healthcare use. A more widespread adoption of physiotherapist-led pain management could result in considerable cost savings for healthcare providers.
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Prospective case-control study testing a new diagnostic method. ⋯ The study demonstrates that it is feasible and safe to measure NO with a real time-sensor in or around the facet joints. The findings of higher concentrations of NO in the perifacetal region in chronic low back patients compared with healthy controls indicate that the degenerative process of the joints in these patients may cause increased NO production. The observation of higher NO concentrations in the perifacetal region in patients responding to corticosteroid/local anesthetic infiltration indirectly suggest a more pronounced inflammatory process in these patients.